Disease drops shrimp supply, raises prices

By Manuella Libardi

Updated
9:09 am CDT, Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Chef Fidel Torres batters some shrimp for frying in the kitchen of Sartin's West Seafood on Tuesday afternoon. The rising cost of shrimp for restaurants is resulting in higher prices for diners.
Photo taken Tuesday, 4/22/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX less

Chef Fidel Torres batters some shrimp for frying in the kitchen of Sartin's West Seafood on Tuesday afternoon. The rising cost of shrimp for restaurants is resulting in higher prices for diners.
Photo taken ... more

Photo: Jake Daniels

Photo: Jake Daniels

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Chef Fidel Torres batters some shrimp for frying in the kitchen of Sartin's West Seafood on Tuesday afternoon. The rising cost of shrimp for restaurants is resulting in higher prices for diners.
Photo taken Tuesday, 4/22/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX less

Chef Fidel Torres batters some shrimp for frying in the kitchen of Sartin's West Seafood on Tuesday afternoon. The rising cost of shrimp for restaurants is resulting in higher prices for diners.
Photo taken ... more

Photo: Jake Daniels

Disease drops shrimp supply, raises prices

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Shrimp prices have steadily spiked over the past decade, forcing some area restaurant owners to drive up their platter prices.

The price for headless Gulf of Mexico shrimp off the boat is averaging about $7.50 a pound and restaurants usually pay about $2 more, said Andrea Hance, executive director of the Texas Shrimp Association based in Brownsville.

Emily Summers, manager of Sartin's West Seafood in Beaumont, said the restaurant had to raise prices this month to keep up with the market.

"It's the highest I've ever seen it," Summers said of shrimp prices. "Hopefully, prices will stabilize and we'll be able to fluctuate back down."

Farm-raised shrimp in Asia is the main cause of the spike, Hance said. A disease known as Early Mortality Syndrome is killing the shrimp that the U.S. imports, driving prices up. Less product and an unchanged demand means higher costs.

"The farmers will eventually find what's causing it (the disease) and prices should come back down," Hance said.

But businesses and consumers are becoming savvier about what they choose to eat and purchase, she said, which increases the demand for Gulf shrimp versus imported farm-raised.

Brad Vratis, general manager at Stingaree Restaurant and Bar in Crystal Beach, said he's had to stop buying local and contract with bigger shrimp outfits in order to pay flat rates.

"It stinks having to leave and go to bigger purveyors, but you have to do what you have to do to make it," Vratis said.